LEC 2023 Group Stage: Vitality for the crown, MAD Lions and G2 main contenders

Although the regular season of the LEC Winter Split 2023 is over, this regional league still has a lot to give. The LEC continues to roll out its community-accepted format and will continue to do so in the Group Stage.

This innovative phase will make its debut in the European region with the arrival of the highly acclaimed best-of-three matches.

LEC Winter Split Group Stage

After the end of Matchday 9 several days ago, we saw which teams would compete in this Group Stage to seal their ticket to the Winter Split Finals. The participating teams are the best eight teams from the LEC’s regular phase, which are the following:

• Team Vitality
• MAD Lions
• SK Gaming
• G2 Esports
• Team BDS
• Team Heretics
• KOI
• Astralis

We cannot deny that the biggest surprise we have witnessed recently is the elimination of Fnatic for the first time in its history from a regular phase of the LEC.

Now, these eight teams that are still alive are divided into two groups of four participants. A draw made the distribution of the groups according to the position they occupied in the regular phase. The groups for this LEC Winter Split Group Stage are:

Group A

• Team Vitality
• SK Gaming
• Team Heretics
• KOI

Group B

• MAD Lions
• G2 Esports
• Team BDS
• Astralis

Team Vitality and MAD Lions select opponents

Being the leaders of the standings in the regular phase, both Team Vitality (#1) and MAD Lions (#2) took advantage of their advantage to choose their first opponent in this phase. In Group A, Team Vitality decided to start the BO3 phase against Team Heretics, while in Group B, MAD Lions did the same with Astralis.

Therefore, the other matches are as follows:

• G2 Esports vs. Team BDS
• SK Gaming vs. KOI

Format and start date of the Group Stage

As recently mentioned, this group stage will debut best-of-three matches in the LEC. The format will be a double elimination, where two losses will result in elimination, while two wins will ensure a playoff berth. In the end, two teams from each group will play in the final playoffs.

The LEC Group Stage will kick off tomorrow, February 11, 2023.

Team Vitality is the favorite to win this Winter Split

There is no doubt that the French organization has been reborn this season, fully complying with the first objectives of the season and taking a step forward to its rivals.

Team Vitality finished as the regular phase champion with an excellent 7-2 record. While this is not a grand prize, to say the least, this achievement means fulfilling several goals that the team had pending for several seasons.

As mentioned, with a 7-2 record Team Vitality took first place in the regular phase, and there is no doubt that they fully deserve it. Their level of play has been exceptional, and they are one of the favorites to win this Split.

The outstanding performance of Vitality has several protagonists, summarizing this first big step as a success of the whole. The line-up has been a success by all accounts and not only for the organization. The players have also found a home where they can do justice to their talent and look forward to lifting the European trophy.

Header: Team Vitality | Twitter